Monday, 27 January 2024: A new report from the social enterprise Timewise finds there is a widening gap in the UK workforce, betweenpeople working in frontline roles such as nurses, cleaners and bus drivers – and office-based staff -when it comes to having autonomy over working hours. One that COULD be closed by government’s landmark employment legislation – but only if more action is taken to put reforms into practice. Timewise is calling for three new ways in which the UK government can help support employers to implement the legislation, in a move backed by frontline bosses.
According to ‘Ending the Two-Tier Workforce’, the report from social enterprise Timewise, supported by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, frontline workers are missing out on the autonomy, work-life balance, dignity and control, that access to flexible, predictable and secure working patterns offer.
The report looks at ‘flexible hours working’, which is defined by the Office for National Statistics as the ability to vary start and finish times. Over five years, from 2019 – 2024, over 1.3 million more people in higher paid desk-based jobs gained access to flexible hours working (rising to 14 per cent of all desk-based workers), while shift-based workers found their jobs frozen in time. There has been no change in how many shift-based workers have had the ability to vary their start or finish times since 2019 (remaining at 6 per cent, or 200,000 people total)2.
Furthermore, while 19 per cent of people in higher level managerial and professional positions have access to flexible working hours, just 4 per cent of people in routine occupations enjoy the same3.
And while return-to-office mandates are troubling many office-based employees, 40 per cent of workers in the UK need to be onsite in their place of work1 – and therefore cannot work from home or take advantage of hybrid working to better manage the demands of life and work.
Recently published research for the Healthier Working Lives Commission shows that having a degree of control over work positively impacts on health and leads to improvements in mental wellbeing. While having low or no control at work, is a strong predictor of poorer mental and physical health4.
10.5 million people work in frontline jobs in the UK, across sectors providing vital services such as health, transport, childcare, freight and logistics, construction and retail5. These are all sectors facing acute recruitment and retention crises as workers reject rigid, inflexible and insecure jobs that leave them unable to balance work and family life, or to manage a health or mental health condition. For example in:
The government has promised its new Employment Rights Bill will upgrade workers’ rights across the UK, delivering up to £600 income savings for each worker, per year, in the lowest paid, insecure jobs. The predicted wellbeing and health benefits for workers are estimated to accrue of at least £3 billion a year with ‘large economic benefits’ if flexible working is made the default for all8.
Timewise’s year-long programme of research with employers, sector bodies and unions, finds proposals could fail to deliver for the lowest paid workers without the right measures in place, due to a combination of short-term upfront costs for businesses, operational constraints and a lack of cross-industry coordination to tackle specific barriers facing each sector9.
Four industry leaders representing a new coalition of employers, unions and sector bodies established by Timewise are calling for immediate action to tackle these barriers and the resulting inequity for workers. They represent frontline workforces employing almost nine million people between them10 and are backing Timewise’s call for:
1. The Department for Business and Trade to set up new industrial forums bringing together employers, sector bodies and unions, to resolve sector-specific challenges, with the transport & logistics and construction sectors as first priorities for this.
2. A new Modern Working Lives Taskforce to be established and charged with ensuring that the government’s Employment Rights Bill is successfully implemented in low-paying sectors, to narrow the widening gap in the two-tier workforce.
3. Government to provide support for the development of industry-wide sector-specific guidance and best practice models across all low-paying industries.
Clare McNeil, Director at Timewise says:
“All workers should be able to have a degree of control and predictability when it comes to working hours and patterns. But for millions of site-based and shift-based workers in particular, it is impossible to meet essential needs like being able to take time out for a medical appointment, to plan ahead or to manage working hours around a health condition.
“This is creating a two-tier workforce between office-based employees who are increasingly better able to manage the demands of work and life, and the frontline workers who keep our country moving.
“The government’s new employment legislation is a huge opportunity to close this widening gap, but only if the government’s proposals are put into practice. We are calling for new sector-wide partnerships between industry and government to accelerate the pace of change in the workplace and overcome the barriers frontline sectors face. We urge the government to look at these proposals from Timewise and industry leaders as part of the consultation on the Employment Rights Bill and the new independent review of workplace health led by Sir Charlie Mayfield.”
Vivienne Jackson, Programme Manager from abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, which supported the research, says:
“We know workers are happier and more productive when they are allowed to work flexibly. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has found that around four million people have changed careers because of a lack of flexibility at work. For the sake of our essential services, it’s vital that employers are supported to help low paid and shift workers have more flexibility.”
Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, who says:
“The NHS recognises that more secure and flexible work is crucial to attracting, retaining and developing the workforce we need to offer a world-class service that delivers for patients and staff alike. The NHS already provides extensive employment rights from day one, and NHS Trusts are leading innovative practice to make work more flexible and predictable for frontline staff. The government’s ambitious 10-year plan for health also provides real opportunities to respond to this important work by Timewise.
“To put the NHS workforce on a more sustainable footing we know there is a lot more to do. The findings of the ‘Ending the Two-Tier Workforce’ report highlights the barriers that frontline workers such as nurses face when it comes to their working patterns and work life balance. It is vital that we heed the recommendations of this report, go further to identify solutions for each profession and role and invest in the right technologies to support this. As the largest employer in the country, we must go further to ensure that more of our people can exercise choice and control over their working lives.
“It is also important to recognise that the context for our colleagues in social care is more challenging. The government’s commitment to fair pay and the work being undertaken by Baroness Casey offers some opportunities to support the response to the issues set out by Timewise.”
Kim Sides, Executive Director – Construction at BAM UK & Ireland, who says:
“BAM is already seeing the benefit of the broad suite of flexible working options we have implemented in close consultation with our workforce. Whether it is paid parental leave or a day off for your child’s first day of school, these are things which matter no matter what your job role is.
“This important research from Timewise and the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust shows how these pockets of good practice could form the foundation of a broader industry offer to all construction workers, including those on site, to have more say over how and when they work. This isn’t just for the benefit of any individual worker – the report confirms that these changes can bring clear business benefits across teams and the supply chain of construction projects.”
Kevin Green, Chief People Officer at First Bus, who says:
“We urgently need to find ways to attract new talent into our sector, to deal with our labour shortages, and provide the clean transport this country needs to keep moving and boost economic growth.
“Our employees – from drivers to engineers – tell us that work-life balance is top of their list of priorities, and that they want more say over how and when they work.
“Government has a major opportunity to convene key players in our industry to help us create the right conditions and overcome barriers to creating work that suits the hours and patterns more people want to work. This research shows there are solutions for our sector, and that working in partnership with unions and industry bodies can be a ‘win-win’ for all involved.”
Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive Officer of the British Retail Consortium, who says:
“Retail is known for providing local, flexible jobs which can help people achieve work-life balance, but retailers have real challenges attracting and retaining staff. There is much more the industry needs to do to ensure we build on best practice and ensure staff have more input and control over their schedules, and to make retail a career of choice for new entrants.
“We urgently need to scale-up the innovative examples identified in this critical new research, and support businesses to continue to embed more widely secure and flexible approaches to work. We call on the Department for Business and Trade to act on our recommendations for more tailored guidance and closer partnership working between government, industry and unions to achieve this, and not to assume the legislation alone can do it all.
“We recognise that there are operational, structural and cultural barriers to tackle, and these are best addressed through greater coordination between employers, unions and industry bodies. By helping to convene key players in our industry, government can support us to work in partnership in a sector-focused way. Not only will this support the successful implementation of the Making Work Pay agenda, it will help re-set the perception that the construction industry is not one which is capable of making flexible and predictable work the norm.”
For more information please contact Jo Burkill: jo.burkill@timewise.co.uk / 07960 472097
About Timewise
Dedicated to creating healthier, inclusive and more equitable workplaces by widening access to good quality, flexible work., Timewise is a unique social enterprise that brings together award-winning HR experts, researchers and psychologists to collaborate with employers and policymakers. www.timewise.co.uk
About abrdn Financial Fairness Trust
abrdn Financial Fairness Trust funds research, policy work and campaigning activities to tackle financial problems and improve living standards for people on low-to-middle incomes in the UK. It is an independent charitable trust registered in Scotland (SC040877).
1Office for National Statistics (2024) Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. Working arrangements 2 to 27 October 2024. Available at: www.ons.gov.uk.
2Timewise has analysed data from the Office for National Statistics’ Labour Force Survey over 5 years, from 2019-2024. And found that in 2024, of the 3.4 million people who do shiftwork most of the time, only 6 per cent report using this form of flexible working (accounting for 250,000 people), compared to 14 per cent of those who never do shiftwork. This is as compared with 6.7 per cent of those doing shiftwork most of the time in 2019 and 12.5 per cent who never do shiftwork.
3 Analysis of Office for National Statistics (2024) Labour Force Survey. April – June, 2024.
4 Exploring in interactionsbetween job quality, industries and health, 2024: https://www.employment-studies.co.uk/system/files/resources/files/Commission%20for%20HWL%20job%20quality%20report_0.pdf
5 While there is no official statistical definition of frontline work, this figure is a reasonable proxy based on analysis by the Office for National Statistics in the early stages of the pandemic (2020) to identify jobs requiring close proximity to others and/or exposure to disease. Available at: www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/whichoccupationshavethehighestpotentialexposuretothecoronaviruscovid19/2020-05-11
6 Construction and transport data comes from this report by the British Chambers of Commerce: https://www.britishchambers.org.uk/news/2024/10/quarterly-recruitment-outlook-fewer-firms-recruiting/
7 Survey by the Early Years Alliance (EYA) of its member nurseries: https://www.eyalliance.org.uk/news/2024/08/survey-reveals-tackling-low-pay-and-workforce-morale-key-recruitment-and-retention#:~:text=The%20survey%2C%20which%20was%20carried,finding%20it%20’very%20difficult‘.
9 Timewise heldhe a series of industry roundtables over the past 12 months in key frontline sectors, and has established the following as barriers to achieving the aims of the Employment Rights Bill: There are three types of barriers in particular that stand out. They are common across all sectors but apply in different ways:
10 3.56m people are employed in the retail sector; 2.06m in construction; 1.6m in health and 1.59m in transport.
